Green Monster Epic

Chapter 138: Surveillance

The Ivan Gnoll tribe, once divided into two, had finally reunited a month ago. The price for this unification was a reduction in their population from over 100 to less than 70 after a period of infighting.

However, Nason was still pleased, as he had ultimately emerged victorious. Boban, his former rival for the position of chieftain, became a stray dog after his defeat. Nason exiled him to the wilderness, making him one of its wanderers.

Of course, Nason's ultimate victory was also due to the help of the Bonecrusher tribe. Night. Bonecrusher, an advanced assassin from the Kobold race, helped him in the crucial battle by assassinating Boban, inflicting significant injuries. Taking advantage of this, Nason led his tribe's strongest warriors in a decisive battle against Boban's forces. The result was predictable: Boban fought valiantly despite his injuries, but he was ultimately no match for Nason. The demoralized members of Boban's tribe were quickly defeated by Nason's forces and reintegrated into the Ivan Gnoll tribe.

As the price for their assistance, Nason, after reorganizing the newly reintegrated gnoll forces, was required to send a party west to cause trouble for the Green Skin tribe. Bonecrusher did not forcefully demand that Nason defeat the Green Skin tribe, as he knew there was little chance of success. Instead, Bonecrusher offered a deal: wild fish and grain in exchange for Green Skin heads, with each head fetching around 50 pounds of supplies.

Moreover, if the Ivan tribe could bring Bonecrusher more than ten Green Skin heads at once, Bonecrusher would trade iron weapons in return, making the deal even more enticing.

Among the various tribes within a thousand miles, it seemed only the Kobolds of the Bonecrusher tribe could mine iron ore and smelt iron. Although their ironware was crude and of poor quality, it was far superior to what tribes like Nason's, which had no iron source at all, possessed.

As a result, Nason's interest in the Green Skins naturally grew. Although their tribe's territory was not small and their food resources were decent, they were barely enough to keep the Ivan Gnolls from starving. To survive in the wilderness, weapons were just as important as food.

Gnolls were physically strong. Like the Bugbears, they could generally reach level 6 combatant strength upon reaching adulthood. However, they lacked the strength and stamina of the Bugbears, making it inconvenient to use wooden clubs or spiked clubs made of ironwood. Therefore, they preferred iron weapons. While the wilderness was rich in minerals, few tribes knew how to identify them and extract them from the earth, let alone smelt iron from them.

For a long time, the Ivan tribe's ironware had been inherited from their grandfathers or looted from the occasional passing caravan. Due to rust and wear, most of the tribe now lacked complete iron weapons, often using spears with iron tips instead.

The hunting party sent to attack the Green Skins served two purposes: to repay the Kobolds for their help in assassinating Boban and, more importantly, to fulfill Bonecrusher's offer of exchanging heads for grain and ironware. The latter was Nason's primary motivation; in the wilderness, the word 'repayment' held little weight.

Yesterday's harvest was good, with eight Green Skin heads collected, bringing them close to the goal of ten. If they could target another Green Skin hunting party and take them down, they could exchange the heads for ten iron weapons from the Kobolds, a deal that seemed very worthwhile.

Nason was pleased and waved his hand. The eight Green Skin corpses became the main course for today's feast, enough for the tribe to eat their fill. Even though the unpreserved corpses had a slightly rotten smell after being left out overnight, it did not detract from their edibility.

The tribe cheered, expressing their support for Nason with exaggerated gestures. They hurriedly searched for firewood and crude salt to prepare today's sumptuous meal. However, no one noticed that just a short distance outside their village, under the canopy of a nut tree, two pairs of eyes were watching the Ivan tribe's activities.

Tracking Nason's group did not take Alan and his companion much effort, even though they were following tracks left the day before. Nason seemed unconcerned about being followed by Green Skins, and he did not bother to have his warriors conceal their trail, which made things easy for Alan.

Alan did not feel much when he saw the corpses of his tribesmen being skinned, gutted, and placed on the roasting rack. It wasn't that he didn't grieve for the dead, but such scenes had often occurred in the Green Field tribe. Flower Snake was somewhat enraged, but after Alan placed a hand on his shoulder, signaling him not to act rashly, Flower Snake could only glare at the gnoll village and wait for an opportunity to retaliate.

"Their tribe's population seems off. When I scouted them before, they numbered only about fifty. In just a few months, the gnoll tribe's population has increased by almost half!"

Alan and Flower Snake were positioned downwind from the gnoll village, ensuring that their scent wouldn't be detected by the gnolls' sensitive noses. However, as Alan observed the village from the shadows of the trees, a look of confusion appeared on his face.

"Without that strength, why would they dare provoke our tribe?!!"

Flower Snake didn't see anything strange; in fact, he thought it was normal. The gnoll tribe's current population and strength seemed like a match for the Green Field tribe.

It was a pity that the gnolls were naturally ferocious and lost their minds after seeing blood, making it difficult to get along with other races. Otherwise, Alan would have considered capturing some gnolls to see if he could tame them and use them as a force against the Bonecrusher tribe.

"Their tribe's population has increased, and their strength has grown considerably. We can't act rashly. You stay here and keep an eye on them. I'll go check on the gnoll tribe next door. I have a feeling that this gnoll tribe's population growth is related to the other gnoll tribe."

Alan said to Flower Snake, seeing no opportunity.

"Okay."

Flower Snake didn't understand why Alan was always thinking about useless things. The gnolls they needed to deal with were this group, and the other gnoll tribe was irrelevant. However, Alan was the chieftain, and Flower Snake couldn't disobey him. Besides, it seemed the gnolls weren't planning on leaving, so Flower Snake could only stay there and monitor them, with nothing else to do.